Statue of Oscar Shooting Heroin Hits Melrose (PHOTOS)

The controversial artwork that looks like an Academy Awards Oscar statue shooting heroin made its way to Melrose Avenue as the big event was taking place yesterday, the artist, Plastic Jesus, told us.

The appearance on Melrose outside Urban Outfitters attracted a good number of passersby and tourists who wanted to take selfies with the piece, though not quite as many as the number of folks outside the Oscars' red carpet, the artist said.

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During the 8 foot statue's first appearance at La Brea Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard Friday a woman got out of a Range Rover and allegedly tried to take it, Plastic Jesus said.

On Sunday, during its one-man show from shortly after noon to 5 p.m., the statue went unmolested, he said. A few LAPD cruisers even drove by slowly but didn't stop, he said.

Courtesy Plastic Jesus

People came to see the piece and take pictures with it.

Despite some negative feedback from people who think the piece denigrates the Academy Awards' most potent symbol, Oscar, the British artist based in L.A. said he thinks most people get it.

Plastic Jesus told us previously that it was inspired by the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman and by the heroin overdose demise of his cousin and his cousin's wife. He said he wants people to focus on an unspoken problem in Hollywood - hardcore drug abuse.

"When I conceived the piece and made it, I didn't know how it would be received," Plastic Jesus told us today. "I hope people would understand the underlying message of the piece. The feedback I got has been overwhelmingly positive. Drug rehabilitation and intervention groups emailed me. They understand it as it was intended to be."

Plastic Jesus said he hasn't yet decided what will become of this Oscar. For now it's being stored at his studio, he said.

Dennis Romero has worked on staff at several magazines and newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times, where he participated in Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the L.A. riots. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone online, the Guardian, and, as a
young stringer, the New York Times.